A Large Tournai figure of Bacchus & his merry band, Circa 1765.
Measuring almost 40cm high, this is a very large piece of 18th century porcelain. Modelled in the round, it was intended as a table-piece, to be placed in the center of the table. Bacchus sits astride a barrel raising his cup, accompanied by several cherubs….. rather young to be drinking! One is raising a small glass, while the other is filling a bottle from the bung of the barrel. Moving around the figure, there is a semi-clad woman with a basket of pears….. what her significance is I am not sure, but she doesn’t appear to have a drink: another cherub is approaching her around the rock pile, holding up a bottle while riding a goat backwards; clearly under the influence!
The central Bacchus with the barrel & the child filling the bottle is a good recreation of a Meissen model, by Johann Joachim Kaendler, circa 1745. (Moorabool had one such group in the late 1990’s). The rest is the creation of the Tournai artists, who were particulary skilled at creating an ‘island’ of rocks on which the figures are placed, along with foliage to soften the composition; in this case, there are grapevines growing rampant.
Unmarked, it links clearly to other pieces attributed to the porcelain works at Tournai, such as these examples in the Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington;
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O99123/clock-case-lecreux-nicolas/
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O307967/figure-group-children-tournai-porcelain-factory/
This amazing piece is a part of Moorabool Antique Galleries ‘Recent Acquisitions’ Exhibition, to be held in our Geelong premises in March 2015.